This New Downtown Brunch Has A Craveworthy Crab Cake Benedict

Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square‘s beautiful Opaline restaurant has a brand-new brunch menu that is giving DC diners something to drool over.

Opaline generally presents an all-day menu of French-inspired classic dishes and bar bites. But now, Chef Kevin Lalli has curated a special Sunday menu with his take on brunch classics.

There are some tough decisions to make: Should you start with a Cinnamon Roll or MonkeyBread… or both?! Do you want to add bottomless mimosas for $25 per person?! Yes!

But there are some menu standouts that we predict will be Chef Lalli’s most-loved. So here are our top 3:

The Petit Belgium Waffles with banana, walnut, and Nutella mousse are actually milder than you might expect, with just a hint of fruit to flavor. The serving size is also perfect to add a sweet shareable finish to the end of the meal.

The Blackened Shrimp & Grits with cheddar cheese and cajun chimichurri offers four large, meaty shrimp on a bed of creamy, soft, almost pureéd grits. The chimichurri was interesting and might be a bit much for some, yet it’s a unique take on this Southern classic.

But the Crab Cake Benedict with sauce choron and home fries was absolutely the standout! Unlike a Chesapeake Benedict which also uses crab as the protein, this dish places its poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce on two crab cakes (instead of on an English muffin), and the result is something you’ll be craving all week.

The new brunch menu at Opaline is now available every Sunday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm.